Football Notebook: Fonseca’s return is cut short

The anticipated return of Jordan Fonseca wasn’t quite what was envisioned.

Fonseca, who was coming off a high ankle sprain and had sat out the season-opening loss to Hampton Bays a week earlier, was in uniform and seemingly ready to make his season debut for the Greenport/Southold/Mattituck high school football team Friday night. But the senior running back/cornerback did not play much before he was seen sitting on the bench in the first quarter of the 30-14 loss at Bishop McGann-Mercy Diocesan High School.

Fonseca did not carry the ball once, but he did make a move on a pass play that prompted him to call it a night.

“He’s still trying to get back from that high ankle sprain, but he couldn’t change direction,” Martilotta said. “You know, he’s such a tough kid and he gave it a go, but he stepped back on it … and it was a pass play, and he just fell down. He put weight on it. You could see he was in a lot of pain.”

As if that wasn’t enough, the Porters lost the services of their only returning lineman from last year, Jonathan Rodriguez. Rodriguez exited the game early in obvious pain. A trainer looked at the senior right tackle/defensive tackle’s right shoulder before the player was taken to nearby Peconic Bay Medical Center for X-rays. Martilotta said the X-rays “came back fine.”

Dante Tramontana, who played fullback, tight end and outside linebacker, said Rodriguez is “a huge piece in our offense.”

• Put a Smiley face here

One Greenport player who did make his first appearance of the season was Tyrus Smiley. The junior running back/linebacker was a force on defense. He was involved in a game-high 12 tackles, making two sacks. He also ran the ball four times for 13 yards, losing a fumble once, and made three receptions for 73 yards.

Greenport’s defense was also bolstered by Robert Lechner (10 tackles, four tackles for losses, one sack), Dante Tramontana (eight tackles, three for losses) and Ahkee Anderson (three tackles, one interception).

“He’s got a motor,” Jack Martilotta said of Smiley. “He runs. He’s a real energetic kid. We like having him out there. We feel better with him out there.”

• Searching for consistency

What did Jack Martilotta see as Greenport’s biggest problem Friday night?

“We’re inconsistent,” he said. “One drive we move down the entire field in six plays. The next drive we can go 10 plays to move forwards and backwards, and that’s my fault. I’m the head coach and I have to make sure we do better with that.”

Greenport was limited to 33 rushing yards as Mercy held a 324-178 advantage in total yards.